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28 States Break With White House on Trump Vaccine Guidelines; Critical Primary Races in Florida, Alaska, Wyoming; Lawmakers and Watchdogs Sound Alarm After Trump Regulators Let Trump Firm State a Bank; Witnesses Testify on Lindsay Clancy's Mental State Before She Killed Her Kids; OpenAI Launches 'ChatGPT For Teens' Amid Child Safety Concerns. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 18, 2026 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: -- evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance. Dozens of studies involving millions of people show that there is no link between vaccines and autism.

They go on to say that delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school. So many states here emphasizing these vaccines are still available. Experts worried that parents will become confused by this executive order, pointing out that kids can and should still get their shots as they go back to school.

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, Meg, really appreciate it. Thank you. And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Gas prices rising as the president's approval numbers are sinking. And today, Americans in key states are voting. But today's primaries could tell us about the midterm battles still ahead.

And A.I. for teens, one of the most popular chat bots is launching a version for younger users. The safeguards, they say, will keep parents informed about what their kids are doing online.

Plus, the barcode is getting a makeover. How this upgrade could help prevent future outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. These major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

A tanking approval rating amid an unpopular war. Today's primary race is bringing a new round of tests for President Trump as the nation races toward the midterms with just a handful of states left to vote. Right now, the president's approval rating is the lowest on record in his second term.

Just 33 percent, according to a new Reuters-Ipso survey. Some recent CNN polling finds that more than 74 percent of Americans feel the Iran War is not worth the cost in U.S. lives and higher gas prices. Let's go live to the White House with CNN's Alayna Treene.

So, Alayna, what is the president closely watching today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, there are a couple of wild races and primaries that are taking place tonight. I want to start, Boris, in the president's own backyard in his adopted home state, if you will, of Florida. Now, I'm going to start with the governor's race because that race should be relatively straightforward.

I'd remind you that the president endorsed Congressman Byron Donalds to be governor in this state to replace his one-time foe, the current governor, Ron DeSantis. He issued that endorsement for Donalds roughly 18 months ago. But what's so interesting about this race is that essentially that endorsement, the president's endorsement, did not do enough to clear the field.

And part of that is because Ron DeSantis has essentially come out and made clear he does not want Donalds to be his replacement. I should note that DeSantis actually hasn't endorsed any of the candidates you're seeing on your screen for this primary, but he hasn't kept quiet either about some of his criticism. So I think the president will be very closely watching that race, of course.

Also, and as equally interesting in Florida, is the primary race to replace or to be the Republican nominee who could replace Byron Donalds in his district of Florida 19. I would remind you that Trump won that district in 2024 by 30 points. So obviously, whoever the Republican nominee who emerges tonight will be -- will likely be the overwhelming favorite.

Now, I do think, you know, we had a great headline from our colleague, Steve Contorno, who was out with a piece on this today. The headline for his story on this race says, "A clown show of carpetbaggers and characters has upended a Republican primary in Trump's backyard." I'm going to read for you just some of these candidates quickly, because it's fascinating to see.

One of them is Madison Cawthorn. You might remember him, he had a very brief and tumultuous time in Congress, and then he was representing North Carolina. Today, he's running in Florida. Then you have Chris Collins, also a former congressman. He's from New York. And not only that, he was sentenced to 26 months in jail for his role as part of an insider trading scheme.

You also have Ola Hawatmeh, also from New York. Then there is Catalina Lauf, someone who the president has backed. She's not from New York, but she's also not from Florida either. She is from Illinois, same with Jim Oberweis. He's someone who actually ran against Catalina Lauf in Illinois as well.

So just a fascinating race there. I should note as well, the president has voted in Florida, except he did that by mail, kind of contradicting a lot of the vote-by-mail criticisms you hear from this president and this administration. And then just another quick race I want to mention that the president will, of course, be watching tonight is Alaska.

There is a primary race there. Interesting because there are two Dan Sullivans running, and the president made that clear when he came out on Truth Social today to say, Alaska, be careful, vote for the real Dan Sullivan today.

He's referring to the incumbent Senator, Dan S. Sullivan, the other Dan Sullivan named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. He is a resident of a small fishing town in southeast Alaska and a former teacher. All to say, having two candidates of the same name definitely could complicate what we see take place in Alaska. The president making clear his support for the incumbent. Boris?

[14:05:00]

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, live for us at the White House. Thank you so much for the update. Erica?

HILL: All right, Boris, thanks. Let's dive in a little bit to these primaries and more with former Republican Senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Good to see you this afternoon. I'm curious, what and where are you watching when it comes to today's primaries?

PAT TOOMEY, (R-PA) FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Yeah, Erica, I'm going to be watching Alaska very closely, as was just discussed. There's a dirty trick going on here. Democrats recruited a candidate to try to fool Republican voters and supporters of Senator Dan Sullivan by running a candidate named Daniel Sullivan. He actually wanted to appear as Dan Sullivan. He has mimicked the Senator's website and logo and everything else, all in an effort to siphon off enough votes from Senator Dan Sullivan to help the Democrat.

Now, as you know, in Alaska, it's the first four finishers in this multi all-party primary that go on to the general election. The big question in my mind is, does the impostor Dan Sullivan, if you will, does he manage to siphon off enough votes to make it into that final four, in which case it becomes a very serious challenge for Senator Dan Sullivan, who I'm certainly sure will get into that final four and is in a strong position to win if voters aren't fooled by this tactic. So that's my big priority.

Some of the other states, the statewide races, don't seem to be very much in doubt in Florida. I don't think there's much mystery about who the gubernatorial nominee and the senatorial nominees will be, likewise in Wyoming. But Alaska, there's a lot riding on that race.

HILL: You know, as we look at this, obviously we're talking primaries today, but looking ahead to the midterms, which at this point are not that far off, Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia, just telling my colleague Morgan Rimmer that the Iran War, in his words, is a mess, talking about how people are hurting and that his party, your party, needs to do more to reach voters before the midterms.

How do those Republican candidates keep President Trump happy while also acknowledging the reality that voters are living at the same time?

TOOMEY: Yeah, you know, that's a big challenge. So first of all, I think if you are a Republican running in a competitive House district or a competitive statewide race, you don't want this to be a referendum on Donald Trump because he's very unpopular in those kinds of places.

So you want to localize the election. That is one important thing that candidates will be working on doing. The other thing I would point out in the federal races for the U.S. House and Senate, there is still some time on the legislative calendar to have some victories, some legislative -- substantive legislative accomplishments.

So two bills that are ready to go and could be a significant boost for Republican incumbents anyway, one would be permitting reform. The Americans for Free Markets have done a great job advocating for the increased supply of products that will lower prices if we had permitting reform. And the other is, and this one's teed up for a vote, and that is the crypto regulatory bill, the CLARITY Act.

You know, there's a not insignificant number of people for whom crypto legislation that creates sensible regulatory guidelines is their number one issue. It's not a majority, but it's a handful of really passionate voters. And in swing districts, in close races, it could make a difference.

HILL: You know, speaking of that, there's actually a couple of points I'd like to get you on that when you talk about the CLARITY Act.

TOOMEY: Sure.

HILL: So the bill had been solved in part by concerns from Democrats. They were pushing for President Trump to ditch his crypto investments. Senator Elizabeth Warren has said that she and her colleagues would introduce a bill to ensure that no president, vice president, their immediate families, other senior government officials could exploit their positions to own or control a bank if a bank charter would be approved.

All of this happening, right? You said that would be an easy one to pass, as we just learned on Friday that in fact regulators appointed by President Trump gave World Liberty Financial, which is the cryptocurrency venture that he launched with his sons, gave the OK for it to become a bank. I'm curious what your reaction is to that.

TOOMEY: Yeah, look, I think there are legitimate questions that need to be addressed about the president and his family's involvement in this. But this should not prevent the United States from having a sensible set of guardrails on crypto. Right now, there's no regulation. There's no law. There's no certainty.

And a really important technology, the blockchain technology, that is a very, very powerful technology for consumers, it's going to languish in the absence of well-defined regulations. If Congress wants to separately make decisions about what presidents and presidents' families and cabinet members can and cannot invest in, that's a fair conversation. It's a lengthy one. It probably should be done separately.

[14:10:00]

And there is bipartisan support for this version of the CLARITY Act. And as I say, it's teed up for an important procedural vote when the Senate gets back.

HILL: Before I let you go, the national debt is set to hit $40 trillion, and that's going to happen earlier than expected.

TOOMEY: Yeah.

HILL: Republicans are in power right now. Is fiscal responsibility at this point a thing of the past?

TOOMEY: Well, if you look at what's actually happened legislatively, yes. But it's a thing of the future one way or another, because we can't continue on this path of huge deficits, mounting debt. At some point, something's going to give, and it could be very ugly. The answer for this is to gradually, in the future, gradually curb the rate of growth of the big entitlement programs that are driving our deficits.

It can be done without throwing anybody off the programs that they've come to depend on, Medicare and Social Security and even Medicaid. But the rate of growth has to be curbed so that the deficit shrinks to a manageable level. We're not there yet.

HILL: And simply tackling entitlements is the answer? Does there need to be more to it?

TOOMEY: It actually is the answer. That's the problem. If you look at it, revenue to the federal government has been coming in as it has averaged for decades. It's spending that keeps growing, and it's growing at a rate that exceeds the rate of growth of our economy. That's got to be brought under control.

HILL: Senator Pat Toomey, appreciate you joining us today. Thank you.

TOOMEY: Thanks for having me.

HILL: Still ahead here, a new testimony on the mental health of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother on trial for killing her three children. Plus, an alleged drug ring bust tied to two Penn State fraternities, more than a dozen students. Authorities claim some pledges were actually required to cut and bag cocaine.

Also ahead, the search for the suspect terrorizing women on the streets of Philadelphia while wearing a Chucky mask. That and much more ahead on "CNN News Central."

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[14:16:41]

SANCHEZ: Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial are hearing from more witnesses as the defense presents its first full day of testimony. The Massachusetts mom is accused of murdering her three young children.

The defense is arguing that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible for their deaths because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Earlier today, the jury heard from Clancy's former mother- in-law who says that Clancy was a wonderful mom who was, quote, "begging for help."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CLANCY, LINDSAY CLANCY'S FORMER MOTHER-IN-LAW: She reached out to me in November and told me that she felt unwell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she describe any symptoms?

S. CLANCY: She did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell the jurors what she said.

S. CLANCY: She felt -- mostly she had insomnia. She was losing her appetite. She was very anxious and sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN Correspondent, Brynn Gingras has been covering this trial.

So, Brynn, what else happened on the stand today?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, the best way I could describe the testimony with Susan Clancy, remember, this is the mother-in-law, former mother-in-law of Lindsay Clancy, the mother of Patrick Clancy, her ex-husband, was uncomfortable in some ways. There was a time when the prosecution had a chance to cross- examine Susan Clancy and was bringing up, you know, notes from Lindsay's conversations with her doctors where she was suggesting that the relationship between the two women wasn't that great.

And she was asking, were you aware of this? There was another moment where she talked about and tried to bring in her religion. Was she aware that murder is a mortal sin for Catholics? Things like that. It got a little heated, I would say, in the courtroom. So it will be interesting to see how that testimony lands with jurors.

But when testimony did continue in the case, we heard from a clinical psychiatrist who didn't treat Lindsay Clancy, but, again, this is now a defense witness, who had a chance to review all of the notes that Lindsay had with all her doctors, talked about all the visits that she went to, to get help. The numbers she would call, suicide hotlines that she would try to get some help from. And there was really a moment where it was the crux of the defense's case, right?

He is trying to prove that Lindsay was suffering from postpartum psychosis when these killings happened. And the cross-examination of this witness essentially was saying that, you know, she wasn't in this state of postpartum psychosis because she really, you know, wasn't seeking out enough help or telling people that she was having delusions of killing her children until after the incident happened.

But the defense brought that back up. And I want you to hear this exchange with this witness about, again, the crux of this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you agree that there are reasons that a woman would not tell the doctor or minimize their symptoms out of fear?

DR. DONALD CONDIE, CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of fear? Fear of what?

CONDIE: Well, in the records, it's stated that Ms. Clancy reported she was worried that her children would be taken away from her, perhaps by the Department of Children and Families if she reported very severe symptoms.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GINGRAS: So again, this witness never treating Lindsay Clancy, but on a broader level, is able to speak to postpartum psychosis, what those symptoms are, was she possibly suffering from that? And again, this is so important for the defense as we continue to listen to the defense's case.

[14:20:00]

They took like a two-hour lunch break today and are just adjourning again shortly. So we'll continue to hear from the defense's witnesses. Unclear at this point, Boris, how long their case is going to continue in the trial. But we're certainly nearing the end, and we'll continue to stay tuned.

SANCHEZ: And we'll see potentially if she takes the stand herself. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much for the report.

Still to come, aiming to protect young users, OpenAI is launching 'ChatGPT For Teens,' a look at the parental controls, break reminders, and stronger safeguards ahead.

Plus, barcodes are getting smarter and your food could get safer as a result of a familiar checkout beep could become a powerful tool for your health when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:19]

HILL: Artificial Intelligence apparently trying to get smarter about protecting kids who are using it. OpenAI launching what's calling 'ChatGPT For Teens' as the A.I. company is also facing a string of lawsuits claiming that inappropriate conversations with ChatGPT have contributed to the harm and in some cases even the deaths of young users.

A Pew research study from December found almost a third of American teens say they use an A.I. chatbot every day and that ChatGPT's version was by far the most popular of those that were used. CNN A.I. Correspondent, Hadas Gold joins us now with some of the details on this new safety feature.

So Hadas, how would this ChatGPT For Teens actually protect kids?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so we know a lot of teens already are using ChatGPT and so OpenAI says they're trying to turn ChatGPT For Teens not only with safety in mind in terms of you know sensitive conversations and things like that but also to turn it more into a learning app to help students, you know teenagers, not just get spit out the answers by a chatbot but actually help them learn.

So if they ask for an answer to a math question, it's not just going to give the answer, it's going to take them through the question just like a tutor would. So under this new system, anybody who's already indicated that they're under the age of 18 will automatically be included. But what OpenAI is also doing is they're using monitoring and analyzing to also guess if somebody is actually under the age of 18, but may have not been completely honest about their age and those people will also automatically be included into ChatGPT For Teens.

If you're an adult, you were accidentally added into the system, then you can appeal to get yourself to get your standards changed. But under this new teen version of ChatGPT, it will include things like nudges for the user to take breaks after 90 minutes of use within a three-hour window, options to set things like 'quiet hours' where the users won't be able to use ChatGPT or even 'study hours' that will really focus on learning.

There's going to be improved protections that the bot itself will not express personal feelings towards the user. That's to prevent things like people believing that they're in relationships with these chatbots and also reminders about uploading, you know, private or sensitive images.

There's also going to be additional protections around conversations that relate to self-harm or eating disorders or other dangerous activities and also what's new is going to be a way that parents will also be able to be alerted by ChatGPT if their teen is engaging in sensitive conversations and actually Lauren Jonas, she's the Head of Youth Well-Being and Families for OpenAI. She was on CNN earlier today talking about this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN JONAS, HEAD OF YOUTH WELL-BEING & FAMILIES, OPENAI: One of the things that we're doing with ChatGPT For Teens and we were the first in the industry to do this, is launch what we're calling parental safety notifications. So if a teen is having a hard time on ChatGPT a parent is notified, and with ChatGPT For Teens, we're expanding the categories where we're notifying parents if a teen is having a hard time. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: So like all of these tools, there will of course be ways around it and I'm sure lots of teens will find ways around it, but this does come at a really sensitive moment for a lot of these A.I. companies. You noted they've been facing a string of lawsuits that including OpenAI has been accused of that ChatGPT contributed to or even encouraged young people's self-harm.

The Florida State Attorney General has sued OpenAI and Sam Altman, its CEO, claiming that they failed to address the safety risks for minor. And this all comes as Meta, I mean, just today is facing this massive lawsuit from a group of state attorneys generals who allege that social media was all created to just to get young people addicted.

So I'm sure these A.I. companies are looking at what these social media companies are now going through years after they created all of these algorithms and trying to protect themselves and also protect their users as well.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely. All right, Hadas, appreciate it. Thank you.

Still ahead here, Disney now taking on the Trump administration, the new lawsuit filed against the FCC in an effort to protect ABC. That's ahead.

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